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There was a time when deciding which college or university to attend was based almost entirely on academic and social programs, a few articles and reviews, and maybe a visit to the campus. Social networks opened up a new door to prospective students, who could learn more about a school before setting foot on its grounds. But they didn't provide enough information to merit making a decision based on them, and online college rankings by educational boards often excluded the valuable input from students.

The weary would-be student can find real help from the guides at College Prowler. All the guides and school reviews are written by students at each college or university, and prospective students can dig in and see what the current students and the site think about a specific school, for a price.

College Prowler prides itself on the fact that all its reviews are written by students for students looking for more information on a specific college or university. The site has listings for over 230 colleges and universities and allows students to rate schools in over 20 categories, including academics, diversity, housing, athletics, dining, and more. The service even allows students to rate the quality of the guys and girls on campus, so if you're looking for a school where you'll stand a good chance of meeting someone who is attractive and funny, you'll be able to judge based on the ratings.

Prospective students can either browse schools by rating category or search for a specific school. If you're looking for a specific category, you can click the category on the front page to immediately see all of the schools that have earned an A+, an A, or an A- in that specific category. You can then click each letter grade to see how other schools fare. If you're looking for a specific school, just type its name in the search field to see if it's listed on the site. The more vague your search term, the better: For example, my alma mater, the University of Maryland, was listed when I searched "University of Maryland," but not when I searched "University of Maryland at College Park."

In addition to searching based on review category, you can also browse schools by size, competitiveness, or major. While each school at College Prowler has reviews written by the students at the schools, the site itself has a group of reviewers that provide their take on the school from a professional standpoint. Since the College Prowler reviewers see so many schools, you have the benefit of a professional school reviewer as well as the independent opinion of students at the schools, all on one page.

This valuable information doesn't come free, however. College Prowler subscriptions run about $40 per year. Once you're signed up, you have access to all the reviews on the site. The service also sells student guides on specific schools, so you can search only for the schools you're interested in and purchase guides for just those universities if you're not interested in paying for full access to the site.

If you're looking for your first school or want to switch colleges, College Prowler could be very useful for you. If your list of potential schools is long, you might consider paying the $40 for a year's subscription; if your list only has one or two schools on it, individual guides might be the way to go. Either way, College Prowler brings a lot of useful information about a lot of schools together into one place.